Vacation in Middle Earth
by Warriormaid 3000
Summary: REWRITTEN! Lord of the Rings (movie verse) and animorphs crossover. The animorphs find themselves in Middle-Earth during the council of Elrond. The two worlds must learn to trust each other as they work together to destroy the One Ring
1. The Council of Elrond

A/N: I finally completely replaced the content the old fic, which was really starting to bug me. I promise this is the last time I'll replace the content, hopefully this is better. I found out that it got way to hard to write a crossover animorph style, so here is the new style I'm going to write it. Special thanks to Lost Soul for editing my chapters for me. Btw, the first two chapters were originally supposed to be one chapter but I split them up so I wouldn't have to remove chapters. 

****

The One Ring rested on a stone pedestal, where twelve pairs of eyes regarded it cautiously.   
  
"So it is true..." Boromir's gaze rested intently on the Ring, thinking. All this time he had heard tales of the One Ring, but thought it only to be legend, never even dreamed it could have been found again. Now, it was so close, within his grasp... "It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor.Why not use this ring?" His voice rose in barely-contained excitement. "Long has my father, the Steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy. Let us use it against him!"  
  
"You cannot wield it! None of us can." Aragorn rose from his seat. He was tall, with a weather-stained cloak, shoulder-length black hair, and piercing brown eyes which radiated both nobility and power. "The One Ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master."  
  
"And what would a ranger know of this matter" Boromir shot back.  
  
Legolas spoke up defensively of his friend. "He is no mere ranger," he said, "He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance.  
  
Boromir was stunned. "This...this is Isildur's heir?" He questioned, disbelief, surprise and shock clouding his eyes.  
  
"And heir to the throne of Gondor."

"Havo dad, Legolas." Aragorn sighed. He didn't want the power, accepting only out of duty, and wasn't exactly proud to have his birthright mentioned, especially so close to the One Ring. _Thank you_, he silently told his friend. Legolas nodded and gave his friend a slight smile. _No problem, _he mouthed.

"Gondor has no king. Gondor needs no king," Boromir said defiantly, bitterness creeping into his voice. 

Gandalf tried to bring the topic of discussion away from Aragorn, and back to the Ring. "Aragorn is right," he pointed out. "We cannot use it." 

"You have only one choice." Elrond paused. "The Ring must be destroyed." _And it should have been done 3000 years ago_, he thought regretfully, _when we had more time._ He remembered how, right at the edge of the Crack of Doom, Isildur had refused to throw the Ring into the fire, falling to its evil, despite Elrond's warnings.

Gimli, a stocky dwarf, grabbed his axe and approached the Ring. "Then what are we waiting for," he challenged. Raising his axe, he brought it down hard onto the small gold band. Instead of breaking under the force of the axe, the Ring remained intact, sitting among the shards of the axe head, and Gimli was thrown back unto the floor.

Legolas rolled his eyes. _Smart, dwarf, smart, _he thought. 

"The Ring cannot be destroyed by any craft that we here possess. The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade." Elrond paused. "It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came." Elrond sighed, knowing what he had to ask next, and scanned the faces of the council. "One of you must do this." 

There was a dead silence, every single member of the council sitting in shock. Finally, Boromir broke the long silence. "One does not simply walk into Mordor," he protested. "Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. And the great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland riddled with fire and ash and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly!" he declared. 

"Have you heard nothing of what Lord Elrond has said," Legolas shot back. Think, he thought. We don't need more bad news. "The Ring must be destroyed," he finished, his blue eyes flashing.

Gimli leapt to his feet. "And I suppose you think you're the one to do it?" he shouted at the elf." 

"And if we fail what then!" Boromir questioned angrily. "What happens when Sauron take back what is his?" He demanded.

"I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands of an elf!" Gimli snapped. At that, the entire council leaped up, bursting into arguments. Old feuds were brought up, frustrations were vented, and insults were hurled back and forth.

"I will take it!" Everyone turned to look at Frodo, surprised, the arguments totally forgotten. "I will take the Ring to Mordor. Though...I do not know the way," he admitted. Determination was evident in his eyes. 

Gandalf walked over to stand by the hobbit. "I will help you bear this burden, so long as it's yours to bear," he said.

Aragorn crossed the room to stand by them. "If by my life or death I can protect you, I will." The ranger knelt before Frodo. "You have my sword." 

"And my bow." The tall elf came over to stand by the small group. 

"And my axe," Gimli said, exchanging a dark look with the elf.

Boromir slowly approached the hobbit. "You carry the fates of us all, little one," he said softly, "If it is indeed the will of the council, then Gondor will see it done." 

Suddenly, a ripple appeared in the air. Legolas's sharp eyes caught it. "Did anyone else see that?" he demanded, worriedly. Before anyone could even answer, the ripple appeared again, stronger, as if the fabric of time were being torn. A blinding white light appeared where the ripple took place. 

Aragorn and Boromir drew their swords, Gimli readied his axe, and Legolas notched an arrow to his bow, while Gandalf's fingers tightened around his staff. All of them moved to protect the Ring bearer. 

What happened next astounded all of them, even Legolas's normally calm composure in the face of danger was shattered. There was a flash, a bang, and a powerful gust of wind that knocked all their weapons from their hands, disarming them completely. The white light disappeared and in place of it, appeared a creature none of them had seen, not even Gandalf or Elrond, for all their years of existence and wisdom. 

"By the Valor, what IS that creature?" Legolas gasped.

It was completely covered in light blue fur, with a shape that roughly resembled a horse. Its torso was humanlike, and it had a face with two eyes, and two more stalk eyes atop its head. But, perhaps the most astounding thing about it was that it had no mouth, and in place of a horse's tail, extended a coiled blue tail with a single dangerous scythe blade.


	2. Two worlds meet

The creature raised its tail blade, defensively. Stand back He warned, speaking telepathically to every member of the council. If you try to attack me I am capable of defense 

The ripple appeared again, and this time, a brown-haired human fell through. "Ax! Where are we! Where is everyone else?" He questioned, worry showing on his face.

I am sorry; Prince Jake, but I do not know where the others are

"That's okay, and don't call me-oh, never mind..." Jake looked up, seeing where he was for the first time. He gasped. "I'm seeing things..." he muttered, wide-eyed. "No way this is true."

Lord Elrond stepped forward to address the strange pair. "Who are you? If your intentions are pure, I promise no harm will come to you."

"How do we know if they're telling the truth?" an elf demanded.

"I'm Jake, and this is Ax, who's an Andalite and a good creature." Jake said. "What have you done with my friends?"

"We haven't do-" Aragorn started, when another human appeared. It was a girl, with flowing blonde hair. She picked herself up. "Okay, this so better not be another trick of the Ellmist's," she muttered. "Jake, where on earth are we this time?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out, Rachel," Jake said. "Along with, where's everyone else." Two humans, a boy and a girl, along with a hawk, appeared. "I don't believe this," the dark-haired boy muttered. "We are SO not in Kansas anymore.

"Well, seeing that we're all here," Jake looked for someone in charge. "Our intentions are pure," he said to Elrond. 

"Just as long as you aren't controllers," Marco muttered. "And anyways, where are we?"

Elrond looked at the group, judging, that they seemed harmless enough. He could usually faintly sense a person of evil intentions, and anyways, he reasoned, he always had a score of elvish archers guarding. It would be safe to hear them out. "If your intentions are pure, then you must be welcomed as a friend, though I'm interested to know where you come from." Elrond gestured to some empty seats.

Jake sighed. "Well, I'm Jake, and this is Rachel, my cousin, Cassie, and Marco." One by one, he introduced them, before moving to the two harder members to introduce. "This is Tobias, who is a human trapped in the form of a hawk." 

It's complicated. Believe me Tobias said.

"And this is Ax, who's an Andalite. We've fought through many battles together and he's given us reason to trust him multiple times." 

Elrond had closely examined each person as they were introduced. Somehow, he sensed that they could be trusted, though he could also sense some force flowing within them that their form did not show. Yes, he decided, he would trust them, until they gave him reason not to. "Allow me to introduce all present," he began. "This is Aragorn, son of Arathorn, my foster son, and heir to the throne of Gondor.The other man you see here is Boromir, son of the steward." Aragorn inclined his head politely. Although he had been trained to be wary of outsiders, he respected and trusted his foster father's judgment. Boromir, however, only nodded his head shortly, still not quite trusting this strange group.

Elrond continued. "The dwarf is Gimli, son of Gloin, and the elf you see here is Legolas, prince of Mirkwood. The wizard is Gandalf the Grey, and the hobbit is Frodo Baggins, the ring bearer. I am Elrond, lord of Rivendell. You are in Middle Earth, in the third age." 

"I guess that answers any immediate questions," Rachel said. "But what did we interrupt when we appeared?"

"I was about to form a Fellowship to destroy the One Ring," Elrond answered grimly.

Marco frowned, "The One...what?" He asked, confused.

"The One Ring. It was forged..." Elrond paused. "To tell you the history of the One Ring would take much too long. Basically, it was created by the Dark Lord, Sauron. It is a thing of great evil that has the power to corrupt the hearts of all and destroy our world. It must be taken to the fires of Mordor to be destroyed...or we will lose everything we hold dear." He finished, sadness creeping into his voice. 

"That must be why we were sent here..." Cassie whispered. "Don't you see? They're fight isn't that much different from ours, if you think about it?" She pointed out.

"What do you mean?" asked Elrond, genuinely interested. 

Jake began to explain. "We're fighting our own war, where we live, and if we lose, we lose our world and everything we have. Our home is being attacked by Yeerks. They are evil creatures who have the power to control a person completely. My older brother, along with countless other humans, have already been taken." Jake's voice cracked as he thought of his older brother and all the other controllers.

"In the tongue of our people, we have a similar word for the creatures we fight. In common tongue, they are called the orcs. They were once elves, twisted and tortured until they were a terrible new form of life, serving only evil." Elrond detected no lie in them, and felt empathy for what they must have to go through. Already, he felt that they were truly not so different. "Why do you think you were sent here?"

"Whatever power that sent us here must have meant for us to join together. We wish to join in taking the One Ring to Mordor." Jake said firmly. "Maybe that is our purpose here," he said softly, half to himself.

"The trip will be dangerous and you are unfamiliar with this world," Elrond pointed out.

"Well, we aren't exactly helpless." Rachel argued. "We fight with our power to change into any living creature we can touch. Um...well maybe we better show them, guys. Battle morphs," she said. Then, she began morphing, growing larger, until a full-sized grizzly bear stood where the human had once been. In the places of the others were a tiger, a wolf, a gorilla, and Ax and Tobias morphed polar bears. 

These forms are what we usually use to fight, but we can turn into any living thing we touch, she explained.

"You are indeed great warriors," Lord Elrond finally said, amazed. "Your skills would definitely be an asset to the quest."

"What?" Boromir protested. "Will we simply allow these strangers to join our quest. How do we know they speak the truth?" 

If we were of evil intent, wouldn't we have attacked already? Ax questioned coldly. Despite his tone, he actually began to like Boromir. Although the human's distrust annoyed him, he respected how Boromir thought like a true warrior and had obviously been well trained.

"The andalite speaks truly. I think their intentions would have been known to us by now. Besides," Elrond pointed out, "have they given us any reason to distrust them?" he asked.

"Well...no," Boromir admitted

"I understand and respect your concern, my friend," Elrond said, graciously, "however, I think they can be trusted, and they would be a great asset to the Fellowship. Very well, together, you shall take the Ring to Mount Doom"

"Mr. Frodo's not going anywhere without me." Sam ran out to stand next to his best friend.

Elrond lifted his eyebrows, slightly amused. "No indeed, it is hardly possible to separate you even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not," he gave, good-naturedly.

"Wait! We're coming too!" Two hobbits, Merry and Pippin, ran out to stand by the group." Elrond turned around, surprise and amusement written across his face.

"You'd have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!" Merry said firmly.

"Besides, you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission, quest...thing," Pippin pointed out.

"And that's exactly the reason why you have me," Marco joked.

"You flatter yourself" Rachel shoved him playfully.

"You cut me deep, girl," he whined in mock hurt.

Elrond gave in, hiding the smile of amusement and relief that threatened to spill across his face. Yes, he thought, if they remained true to each other, this group of people could be trusted to bring the Ring to Mordor. "Very well," he said. "You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring."

"Great. Where are we going?" Pippin asked.

"At least now I know I'm not the only one who doesn't pay attention in class," Marco laughed.


	3. Mellon nin

"If we ever get back, I'll never complain about the mile run in P.E. again," Marco complained as he trudged along, trying to keep up with the Fellowship. They had been walking, across plains, up hills, without stopping, since the Fellowship had left that morning. "Tell me again, why aren't we just morphing birds?" he demanded.

"Because," Jake explained, "We're still not too familier with this world and we'd be safer staying closer to the Fellowship. Besides," he added with a grin, "Walking's good excercise, Marco." 

Marco fake-punched his best friend playfully. "Is that supposed to hint somthing?" he demanded. "Anyways, just watch Legolas. He doesn't look like he's having much trouble." Legolas hopped lightly from stone to stone, pausing slightly to obseve the trail ahead. 

Meanwhile, Boromir frowned as he watched the animorphs. They looked so young, hardly older than the hobbits, and why should they be trusted. He was espescially suspicous of the Andalite, or whatever that creature was called. "How do we know these people are not of the enemy?" he said quietly to Aragorn, who was walking alogside him. 

Aragorn shrugged. "I trust Lord Elrond enough to respect his decision on them. Besides, they've had plenty of chances to attack us already, and with the power they showed us yesterday, they'd be able to hold up a fair fight." 

"They hardly look older than the hobbits," he protested." Is it wise to bring children along on such a dangerous quest?"

Aragorn watched them, his quick grey eyes missing nothing. "They may be young," he said carefully, "but I can see on their faces that they've fought many a battle. I think that they will be able to hold their own in a fight." 

Of course we can, otherwise we wouldn't still be alive If hawks could smile, Tobias would have smiled at the look of suprise on both the men's faces. Don't forget. These hawk ears are much more acute than human ears.

Aragorn laughed. "You're as bad as Legolas, or any elf for that mater," he smiled. "I shall have to remember that you could be listening, friend."

Legolas, from his position on an outcropping of rocks, laughed. You've learned that lesson many times with me, mellon nin." _Mellon nin,_ Tobias thought to himself. _I like the sound of that. _

Later, when the Fellowship had set up camp for a break, Tobias asked Legoals what it meant. 

"It is the word of my people for our best friend," he had explained. "the way it has been explained to me, it is someone you'd trust with anything, like Aragorn and myself."

Tobias was slightly surprised. Ax's people will call their best friend their "shorm". The way he explained it to me, "shorm" is their word for "tailblade" The idea is that it's a friend you trust so much that they could hold their tailblade against your throat and you wouldn't even be worried. Tobias paused. That's what Ax and I are.

Legolas smiled. "You see," he said, "already we find similarities between our people. Lord Elrond was correct in thinking that we are really not that different." 

Then why do some of them still distrust us, he asked bitterly.

Legolas's eyes filled with regret. "You must have heard what Boromir said," he said. "Try to understand. In these times we've already been betrayed by who we thought were our allies. Such as the wizard Saruman, who Gandalf thought to be a friend. He barely escaped with his life. It's hard to know who to trust," Legolas sighed, "As the captin of Gondor, Boromir has already seen much war and death. It is not against you and your friends personally."

I understand. We can't even trust those we love anymore. Anyone could be controlled by a yeerk and we wouldn't be able to tell the difference. And we've already had to deal with this kid who turned out to be a traitor, which was not pleasant. Tobias said dryly.

"Those situations never are," Legolas said emphatically. He looked up, scanning the horizon worriedly. 

"What is that?" Cassie asked, noticing the elf staring intently at the skyline.

Gimli looked up. "Nothing," he replied gruffly, "Just a wisp of cloud."

"It's moving fast," Boromir said, worriedly, "Against the wind..." Legolas's sharp eyes, along with Tobias's raptor vision, finally picked out what the black form really was.

"Crebian from Dunland!" Legolas shouted. 

Aragorn's eyes widened in shock and fear. "Hide," he shouted to the Fellowship. The whole campsite instantly began to disappear, everyone rushing to put everything away and get into hiding. Ashes and dirt were kicked over the campfire, and everyone dove behind the rocks, hiding from the view of all.

Moments later, a flurry of black crow-like creatures tore through the now deserted campsite, searching for the Fellowship who were actually right beside them, hidden by the rocks.


End file.
